The race is on among nations to create knowledge-fuelled innovation economies. Education is seen as the key. And the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is the best way of measuring and ranking which educational systems are winning the global competition for the jobs of tomorrow - or so the growing international consensus goes. Since its outset in 2000, the PISA tests in maths, reading and science have been dominated by fast-growing Asian economies: China, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. In the UK, both government and opposition politicians see our mediocre results as a cause for concern, clamouring for us to ‘catch up’ and improve our international standing. The former education secretary Michael Gove’s proposed ‘Look East’ reforms seek to learn from Asia, whether extending the school day, focusing the curriculum on academic, examined subjects or noting the benefits of rote-learning. Does this mean we are back to learning times tables and historical dates? Middle-class parents, enamoured with the ‘Tiger Mother’ approach, are following suit and aspire for high-scoring children.

But should we be taking PISA so seriously? Critics suggest the study measures no more than students’ ability to recite what their teachers have imparted, and gives no indication of how well students can apply, evaluate or develop what they’ve been taught. And it is precisely these skills of critical thinking, collaboration and innovation – associated with more creative, less prescriptive educational models - that Asian education reformers and employers find lacking in their own graduates. Sceptics have also questioned any link between the test results and economic growth. More fundamentally, some question the assumption underlying PISA that education’s primary goal is to enable economic growth.

Is there knowledge worth teaching beyond that necessary for the ‘knowledge economy’? Does the pursuit of a top PISA ranking risk undermining a more rounded idea of education as enriching our culture and even our politics, as well as our economy? Is ‘Look East’ an example of the best kind of comparative international research, invaluable in forcing homegrown education to stir from complacency? Or is there a danger of trying to ‘cheat’ by finding ready-made, off the peg solutions and a distraction from solving problems closer to home? What exactly is a world-class education anyway?